Transit checks altered after Sprinter issues

NCTD didn't measure rotor wear, all agencies will have to

At a media event after the brake problems became public, Bob Young, general manager for operations and maintenance at Bombardier, points to one of wheel assemblies that contains rotors that are prematurely wearing out. [U-T file]
— Nelvin C. Cepeda

At a media event after the brake problems became public, Bob Young, general manager for operations and maintenance at Bombardier, points to one of wheel assemblies that contains rotors that are prematurely wearing out. [U-T file]
— Nelvin C. Cepeda

Previously

The California Public Utilities Commission will require transit agencies to document measurements of wear on brakes and rotors so they can avoid the fate of the Sprinter line, which was shut down suddenly this month.

Accelerated rotor wear on the Oceanside-to-Escondido light-rail line went undetected by state inspectors for nearly two years.

The announcement Thursday by Paul King, the commission’s deputy director of railroad safety, came the day after the U-T Watchdog reported that North County Transit District maintenance records did not include these measurements, instead just noting that the brakes passed inspection.

“It doesn’t do any good to measure and document ‘pass,’” King said. “Because you will show ‘pass, pass, pass, pass, fail’ in your records — and it is almost guaranteed to fail.”

NCTD officials say that a maintenance contractor and a former district engineer knew about the uneven rotor wear for at least 18 months without informing superiors.

During that time, the utilities commission conducted some 50 inspections of the light rail service without catching the issue. They largely relied on the maintenance records.

State inspectors discovered the brake issue by chance during a March 1 follow-up inspection to a Jan. 14 failure in a different area of the braking system.

The transit district shut the Sprinter down March 9, which was the $477 million rail line’s fifth anniversary. The trains may be idled for four months while awaiting parts from Europe.

State utilities officials said the shutdown came as a surprise because of the Sprinter’s relatively short time in operation.

“We have 100-year-old vehicles in San Francisco,” King said. “Our concern has been more with the older infrastructure.”